Sweet dough (untested)

This typewritten recipe for sweet dough is highly versatile with several uses noted at the bottom including:

• Palm leaf rolls
• Cinnamon buns
• Cinnamon bun loaf
• Honey almond cake
• Date braided cake
• Cinnamon twists
• Rosebuds
• Doughnuts
• Pan rolls

On separate cards in the recipe box, I found the instructions for making some of the above variations—palm leaf rolls, cinnamon twists, pan rolls, and rosebuds. I have posted those recipes separately and each can be accessed by clicking the title above or below.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup warm (not hot) water
• 2 packages or cakes of Fleischmann's Yeast (active dry or compressed)*
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 5 cups sifted enriched flour

Instructions:

1. Scald milk
2. Stir in sugar, salt and shortening
3. Cool milk mixture to lukewarm
4. Put warm water in separate bowl
5. Sprinkle or crumble in yeast and stir until dissolved
6. Stir yeast mixture into lukewarm milk mixture
7. Add eggs and 3 cups of sifted enriched flour
8. Beat until smooth
9. Stir in an additional 2 cups of sifted enriched flour
10. Turn dough out on lightly floured board
11. Knead until smooth and elastic
12. Place in greased bowl
13. Brush top with soft shortening
14. Cover
15. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour)**
16. Punch down and turn out on light floured board
17. Proceed according to type of rolls being made

Action Quick Dough variation:

*Use 3 packages or cakes of yeast instead of 2
**Let dough rise in bowl for about 45 minutes

Palm leaf rolls instructions here
Cinnamon twists instructions here
Pan rolls instructions here
Rosebuds instructions here

Mystery of Grammy's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe solved

About twenty years ago, I discovered a recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie written in my Grammy's handwriting and made it as part of a homemaking class on recipes using pumpkin (I also taught how to make your own pumpkin pie filling from fresh pumpkins). It was a lighter and fluffier recipe than any pumpkin pie I'd tasted before, seeming quite chic and sophisticated.

It wasn't until today that I discovered the possible source of that recipe. As I thumbed through a well-used copy of "Aunt Chick's Pies" by Netti Pendleton McBirney (1940), I found some clues. In the index, I found penciled checkmarks next to only three recipes--one was for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. I also found my Grammy's handwriting in the margins of page 4 of the pamphlet (as well as speckles of white flour from her kitchen stuck to page 3, still white and looking very flour-like).

What I'm finding wonderful about this fairly succinct recipe pamphlet is the breadth of knowledge it contains. It covers all the basics about pie crusts but also covers the basics of tarts, fried pies, filled cookies, doughnuts, ravioli, sweet dessert pies and savory meal-in-a-crust pies. If you want a traditional recipe for Christmas mincemeat pie, it's in here. If you want the recipe for "Southern Sweet Potato Pie", it's got that too. There's a whole section covering just custard pies (that's where you'll find a recipe for "Peanut Butter Pie").

In addition to a list of all the necessary tools you need to make pies from scratch (see photo below), there are specific instructions on caring for a non-stick pastry canvas just like I watched my mom use for years (keep in mind this was written in 1940 and my copy is a reprint from 1944 so there is at least one racially insensitive statement about Japan in this section).

The opening page has an interesting couple of paragraphs under "War Time Pastry" that give us a peek into what it was like for cooks at that time. Here's a transcription of the text:

"Metals are gone so I can no longer sell you a blender. However one of these days this fight is going to be over. In the meantime if you have no blender use the recipe for Hot Water Piecrust given below. It is just as good a piecrust. It has a slightly greasy feeling as you handle it which I do not like especially but the results are worth working for.  

"Fats will be scarce no doubt, therefore use your own ingenuity patterned on what I will tell you below, using bacon fat, chicken, turkey, goose, or any other fat you may have on hand, especially for biscuits and meat pies. The government is after only that fat for which you have no use."

Just from the excerpt above, I'm thinking many of the recipes could be adapted for survivalist conditions, off-the-grid cooking, or outdoor camp-kitchen conditions (possibly even a dutch oven). Let me know if any of you test any of the recipes in any of those ways. I'd love to know if my hunch is right.

I've scanned the entire pamphlet and 

made it available in a pdf file to view or download 

Click here to see it